Yes

John Hollins Former Chelsea manager and England player

It will need a big personality after Sir Alex leaves, remember Wilf McGuinness after Matt Busby. And Jose is that. In fact the two of them are alike in many ways. Alex has got where he is because he has been willing to learn, to take on new information and freshen things up with a number of different coaches. Mourinho is the same, a great gleaner of information. He takes a bit from this person, a bit from that one and has put together a winning formula.

When you meet Jose it is clear that he is confident,but it is something else that marks him out – his positivity. He also has real passion, he's very similar to Sir Alex. His self-assuredness reminds me of a young Brian Clough, but Brian was always willing to tell you if your side played better on a given day, something I couldn't see Jose or Alex doing. Like all the top managers, he is as good off the field as he is on it, and when I say that I mean that his training regimes are clearly brilliant – his sides are always super-fit – but he also has the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

He's had an incredible education for someone who didn't play at a high level and is still so young. He had an English upbringing through Bobby Robson at Barcelona and then got tutored in the Dutch arts under Louis van Gaal. He's put that all together and won titles in three different countries – you can't argue with that. And you can see it with Steve Clarke as well, who learned from Mourinho and has basically turned round West Ham. Jose's only ever been seen to fail at one club, Chelsea, and that after winning two titles and two cups.

Like all the great managers, Jose knows how to deal with players, knows how to get in their heads. He has never really had the time to show if he could put together several teams like Ferguson and bring through such wonderful youngsters. Ferguson knows everything about the club, managing each detail, and I think given the opportunity and time – something that is so rare these days – Jose could do that as well.

The idea he's been found out in Italy is curious. He looks well set to win Serie A in his first season, with Internazionale seven points clear – I'd like to be found out like that. But most importantly he has adapted to a different challenge there. Unlike at Chelsea, he has two aggressive full-backs who bomb on. So any idea he is wedded to one particular formation flies out the window.

And who else is there? The former Manchester United players who are managing shouldn't go back – it's always dangerous to do that – and Martin O'Neill, often touted for the job, is building a legacy at Villa. Then there are the usual overseas names but you need to be really special to take over from Sir Alex. Jose's the man.

No

James Richardson Presenter and Italian football expert

Mourinho at old Trafford? It's an intriguing idea, in much the same way as Mourinho in Dancing on Ice is an intriguing idea. But Jose actually in charge of Sir Alex's magnificent legacy? Jose addressing the world from the Old Trafford pulpit? Who in their right mind would want that?

Everything palatable about the current United would disappear and everything that sticks in the neutral's craw would be ten times worse. You might find Sir Alex an arrogant and bullying type but he is a model of avuncular charm compared to the shamelessly narcissistic Special One, a man who marked his first managerial visit to Old Trafford by flicking V signs at the home fans, and who this season has produced such gems as taunting a journalist with the size of his pay packet, and mocking Claudio Ranieri for speaking poor English compared to his own and for being 70-years-old (he's 57).

Then there's the damage to United's on-field style, for rest assured the steady decline in Jose's public persona has been matched by his football. It's dire. Where once Europe thrilled to the derring-do of his unheralded Porto, she now wrinkles her nose in horror as his 2009 Inter arrive to stink out another stadium. This season the Nerazzurri have lost at home to Panathinaikos and scraped a draw with a side from Cyprus, never once looking like they knew what they were doing. No wonder the bewildered Italians ask: "Where is his gioco?"

The impression is that the further Mourinho travels from his coaching origins at Barcelona, the more dour and pragmatic his style of play becomes. It's as if the tactical sheen learnt at Sir Bobby Robson's knee has gradually worn off to reveal the dark, soul-sapping horror beneath. Worse still, the famous Mourinho locker-room charm is evaporating, too. Jose's fallen out with many of his squad this season, often publicly. Just five months after splashing out £15m on Ricardo Quaresma, Jose labelled him a "weak character" and sent him to Chelsea. Another summer buy, Mancini, barely featured after "not doing as he's told" and the defensive stalwart Iván Córdoba found himself frozen out in favour of comedy Colombian Nelson Rivas.

In short, with his domestic success based more on fortuitous refereeing and the odd superb individual performance than any tactical masterplan, and a deteriorating rapport with his players Mourinho's become the Portuguese Rafa Benítez, just better with the press. Is that really what Old Trafford wants?